2/5

posted Apr-28-2012

"this place is HORRIBLE. if you ever sell books to them, you should know ahead of time that no matter what, you WILL be swindled. they make like 2000 percent profit off of people, it is so ridiculous. i brought in 15 books, and got 9 dollars. i saw these books for sale at 10 - 12 dollars EACH. you are better off online selling your books online probably. also i was there today, and my boyfriend and i were STALKED the entire time. we were treated like criminals. they thought they were being slick but we completely noticed them following us around as if we were going to steal. they basically profile their customers by their appearances. i am DONE with half price books and their corrupt business behavior."

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1/5

posted Apr-23-2012

"I purchased a book from a seller supposedly in California. It took over two weeks to arrive. It was supposed to be a hard bound copy of a book but was an "International Edition" printed on extremely thin paper. This was a $38 book ! When I contacted the seller he said I should have clicked through and looked at all the details. This book was listed under the hard cover ISBN ! At the time I ordered, there was no international edition badge but conveniently the seller added one the same day I contacted him although it was still listed under hardcover. I returned the book using their "100% satisfaction guaranteed" policy although I had to pay the return shipping.

I finally got an email saying "return denied" due to the "words in my return note". What ??? I did not say anything in the note except why I was returning it. No insults or even harsh language. And now you're going to just keep my book. Don't ever shop at this store. Worst online ripoff in recent memory."

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1/5

posted Feb-20-2012

"I am done with them. I am slowly culling my book collection of about 2000 books, which includes many modern first editions, some signed. Some are worth a little bit, some are not. Before I sell or donate books, I check on-line prices on several sites, and I assume lower end of the spectrum because after all those books are still for sale and I'm looking at asking prices. Still, I have an idea of whether a book is worth in the range of a penny, a dollar, or a hundred dollars before I decide to part with it and how. I have a certain price range that I'll take into HalfPrice Books. Well, no matter how many books or what kind I bring to the Concord, CA store, the offer is ALWAYS $13. I maintain that because I've taken that offer in the past, they have me in their computer as such, and that is all I will ever be offered. They deny that is the case, that the store doesn't track past payments -- supposedly only their corporate office has that capability. My sister and I were laughing about it, because before I went today I told her that's what they would probably offer me. And that's what happened. I am donating the books. Won't buy from there either, as a matter of principle. I'll stick with library book sales. So...you think they'll offer me $13 altogether for my signed Richard Nixon and Bing Crosby and Dr. Seuss 1st editions?? And my signed 1st edition early Sue Graftons? I should test it."

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1/5

posted Feb-20-2012

"They should call it half price crooks. I love shopping there but will never sell my books to them again. I brought it around 30 books that included the popular twighlight series, nicholas sparks and lauren conrad. All in great condition. I probably spent around $360 on all of them, read them once and they offered me $7. That is less than a price of one new????"

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1/5

posted Feb-01-2012

"I wish I had read the reviews before I took 5 boxes of books (about 100 books)to the Highland Park, IL store. They paid $35 which was literally pennies per book and since I had brought them from Michigan and was suffering with back pains I didn't feel like loading the books back into the boxes and reloading the car. When I asked how the books were priced, the answer was vague. I'd have been better off donating the books to Goodwill and taking a charitable tax deduction based on how much Goodwill sells books for, which is more than I was paid by Half Price Books. I wouldn't shop there either after my experience. There are plenty of other used book stores."

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1/5

posted Jan-09-2012

"I am disappointed with this store. I was going to sell books in their mint condition, only to get $8 from them. I knew I can get more from these books than that, so I jus took my books and walked out."

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1/5

posted Jul-05-2011

"I had a horrible experience at the Highland Park location on Lake-Cook Road last weekend. I carried in two boxes of books and looked around for the counter to sell books. I saw a very young employee standing in front having coffee. I asked him and he replied very rudely, "There's a big red sign RIGHT THERE!" as he pointed across the room at a counter that I did not obviously see. I sarcastically thanked him for pointing it out to me. I turned in my books and waited approximately 15 minutes for an offer. They offered me $8.00. When I asked to see an itemized list, there were only 6 books listed! I thought this was very dishonest given their prices and being that my books were newer, read only once and shelved. I had them box them right away and took them back to my car. I would rather donate them! I was dissapointed given that I had visited the Niles location on Touhy and had a great experience buying books. I will never visit the HP location ever! They were very rude!"

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1/5

posted Mar-19-2011

"I went to half priced books today with a pretty up-to-date collection. I had only four shopping bags but they included all the new "celebrity biography books". This includes all of Tori Spellings books, Lauren Conrad the whole series, and a few comedians books. That is just a few I had taken in, I've paid 20 dollars or more for each book. They offered me 25 dollars, after they had taken them all out of the bag and mixed them around. the employees try to intimidate you and make you feel as if you will be causing a scene to deny their off. I was HIGHLY disappointed and very off put by the way they handle items before you've even accepted their offer. I will not go back to buy or sell books from there. "

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1/5

posted Dec-30-2010

"It was a horrible experience. I brought in over a hundred video cassette tapes. At this current time, their value is practically nothing, however this was quite a few years ago. The man behind the counter dumped all of my video tapes out of the box and offered me seven dollars for them. Since they were mixed in with everything else behind the counter, I felt like it would be too much to refuse their offer since all of my video tapes were mixed in with everything else. I think that they do this on purpose to make the person feel "funny" for asking for your stuff back. I got seven dollars for over one hundred video tapes which averages less than a dime a video that they offered me. The week after I sold them my videos,I went into the store and saw that they were selling the videos for fifty cents a piece. Dishonest! This company will go out of business if they continue in this way!"

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1/5

posted Dec-29-2010

"I am very disappointed in HPB and will never go into their store either to buy or sell. I took 82 paperbacks and 8 hard covers and was offered $11.00! I was told that the condition of most were not good enough for them to sell. All books were read once and then placed on a bookshelf, so the condition was fairly good. I also looked on the shelves for condition of similar books and they were no better than what I brought. I took the offer simply because I didn't want to carry that many books back to my car.

Please donate your books to a library or charity instead of letting HPB rip you off. I wish I had donated them as was my originally plan and learned my lesson. I even donated the $11.00 to a local charity."

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